Recycling

ABSTRACT

A freestanding piece of residential furniture includes a household work surface and storage for household items, a compartment having a height, width, and depth to hold an open-top household recycle bin oriented to receive household trash through the top of the bin, and a movable panel to provide access to the compartment to enable a user to place and remove the bins into and from the compartment and to load trash into the bin.

BACKGROUND

This description relates to recycling.

In typical households, paper, plastic, glass, and metal trash that is to be recycled is stored temporarily in bags or other containers until the next time when the trash is taken away. The storage containers are often kept in a kitchen, utility room, or garage, or outside a back door on a patio, deck, or stairs. The sizes and shapes of curbside bins used for recycling have become relatively standardized and are often provided by trash collection companies.

Other approaches to temporary storage of trash to be recycled include the following: Tiered plastic bins with flip-up tops that allow a user to insert the trash into relatively small, non-standardized recycling containers with the bins; trash barrels or curbside bins kept outside of a house either in a garage or in a backyard; a small table to store paper trash and baskets; and bins or bags to store plastic, glass, or metal trash until the trash is moved to barrels or bins for curbside pickup. Recycling bins may be built into existing kitchen cabinets that slide out for access to non-standardized bins. A wheeled container can hold a small, kitchen trash barrel in a cabinet. The cabinet has a knob that is pulled to tilt the barrel and cabinet forward to give access to the barrel.

SUMMARY

In general, in one aspect, a freestanding piece of residential furniture includes a household work surface and storage for household items, a compartment having a height, width, and depth to hold an open-top household recycle bin oriented to receive household trash through the top of the bin, and a movable panel to provide access to the compartment to enable a user to place and remove the bins into and from the compartment and to load trash into the bin.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. The furniture includes a secretary style desk having a hinged access door. The household work surface and the storage for household items are located behind the hinged access door. The furniture includes a writing surface and cubby holes to store home office items. The access to the recycling bins when the door or doors are closed. The number, shapes, and sizes of the access panels, their arrangement on the desk and their relationship to the recycling bins can vary. For example, there could be a single flapper to serve more than one bin. Or there could be one flapper for each bin. One or more bins might not be served by any flapper but be accessed by opening the door or doors.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a piece of furniture 10 is made of ¾ inch thick wood (as are all of the examples described here) and serves two primary purposes. One purpose is to provide a recycling receptacle 12. The second purpose is provide a secretary's desk-type storage area 14 with a slant-front top 16. There is a single cabinet door 18 on the front of the unit with hinges 20 on the right side. This cabinet door 18 is comprised of two fixed panels 26, 28 and two inset flapper doors 30, 32. The interior of the cabinet has one shelf 34 in the middle. Standard curbside recycling bins 36 (typically issued by refuse companies) are placed on the bottom 38 and top 34 shelves and the cabinet door 18 is closed. The flapper doors provide easy and convenient access as clean, recyclable materials can then be inserted into either opening for storage within the bins.

The example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 has the following dimensions.

Height—61½ inches or 76 inches with slant-front fully open (included in these heights are four furniture-style, wooden legs that extend 1″ below the bottom of the console to ensure proper clearance for operation of the cabinet door.)

Width—24½ inches; 26 inches at top.

Depth—18¾ inches, extending out to 20½ inches where slant-front rests when closed; 11 inches at top of unit.

The cabinet door is 50 inches high and 24½ inches wide. Utilizing a frameless cabinet design, the door is attached to the unit from the side using four European-style hinges and remains flush with the unit when closed. The outer frame 44 of the door is 2¼ inches wide and 1-inch thick solid wood pieces and additional solid wood pieces 46 of the same dimensions are located between the two fixed panels and the two flapper doors. All other material on the door is made of plywood with a wood veneer. The fixed panel 28 at the bottom is 11¾ inches high and the flapper door 32 above it is 7¾ inches high. Likewise, the fixed panel 26 located above the lower flapper door is 11¾ inches high and the upper flapper door 30 is 7¾ inches high. Each of the fixed panels compartment has a height, width, and depth to hold multiple open-top household recycle bins. The compartment is completely enclosed and hidden from view by the panel. The door includes a fixed panel in front of the bin and a flapper above the fixed panel. The door may include two fixed panels in front of one or more of the bins and two flappers respectively above the fixed panels. The compartment includes shelves. The piece of furniture has a European style and is made of wood.

Other advantages and features will become apparent from the following description and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5, 6, and 7 are perspective front views of three pieces of furniture.

By configuring a freestanding piece of residential furniture to have hidden spaces to accommodate standardized curbside bins for trash recycling and mechanisms to give access to the bins, trash can be temporarily separated and stored neatly, easily, conveniently, and out of sight. The trash need not be transferred to other containers for curbside trash pickup. The neatness or decorated appearance of the inside of a house is not depreciated. The amount of existing storage used for other purposes, such as in kitchen cabinets, is not reduced. Additional surfaces are provided for other uses such as writing, working on a computer, or storing household items such as papers, mail, envelopers, CD's or phone books. Clutter is reduced.

In some examples, the piece of furniture is a wood desk such as a “secretary's desk” that has a style consistent with residential decorating, and has a writing surface and storage for desktop and other household items. One or more compartments under the writing surface are sized and shaped to hold one or more standard curbside recycling bins and are normally hidden behind one or more hinged wooden doors. When the door or doors are opened, the compartment or compartments are accessible and the bin or bins can be loaded into the compartment or compartments or removed to be carried to a curbside location for trash pickup. The doors may also be opened to permit trash to be tossed into an appropriate one of the bins. The door or doors also include one or more movable bin access panels (for example, flappers) and fixed panels. The panels give and flapper doors has a width of 20 inches, creating a symmetrical and balanced appearance. On the inside of the unit, the space below the shelf is 23½ inches high and the space above the shelf is 25¼ inches high.

The top of the unit (the secretary's desk-type storage area 14) has a front that is 26 inches wide and 13½ inches high and slants back toward the rear of the unit at a 45-degree angle. The slant-front piece is attached to the top of the unit using two recessed 4¼ inch brass hinges and rests flush against the unit when closed. There is also a curved, trunk-style hinge 50 affixed to the slant-front piece and the interior of the unit; this enables the slant-front piece to rest in a straight-up position and also ensures that it will close slowly and not slam shut. The interior of the top of the unit has open storage space in the middle as well as 4 vertical slats/dividers 52 measuring ½″ thick, situated (with 2 on each side) 3½ and 7 inches from the outside edges. These slats/dividers are each 5 ½ inches deep, providing ample room for papers, mail, envelopes, CDs, phonebooks, file folders, etc. The top of the unit is 11 inches deep and 26 inches wide.

The example shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 has the following dimensions.

Height—61½ inches (included in this height are four appliance-style adjustable legs that extend below the bottom of the console to ensure proper clearance for operation of the cabinet door).

Width—27 inches, extending to 29 inches at bottom of unit which includes a 1-inch decorative molding surrounding the base; 29 inches at top of unit.

Depth—18¾ inches, extending to 29 inches with slant-front open; 14¼ inches at top of unit.

The cabinet door is 49¼ inches high and 24 inches wide. The door is attached to the front frame of the unit from the side using two brass spring-and-groove-style hinges 60; because the edge of the door frame is notched to accommodate these hinges, the door remains flush with the unit when closed. The outer frame of the door is 2¼ inches wide and 1″ deep and there are wood pieces of the same dimensions situated between the two fixed panels and the two flapper doors. All other material on the door is made of plywood with a wood veneer. The fixed panel at the bottom is 11¾ inches high and the flapper door above it is 7¾ inches high. Likewise, the fixed panel located above the lower flapper door is 11¾ inches high and the upper flapper door is 7¾ inches high. Each of the fixed panels and flapper doors has a common width of 19½ inches, creating a symmetrical and balanced appearance. On the inside of the unit, the space below the shelf is 23½ inches high and the space above the shelf is 25¼ inches high.

The top of the console (the secretary's desk-type storage area) has a front that is 24 inches wide and 10¾ inches high and slants back toward the rear of the unit at a 65-degree angle. There are two, recessed, 3-inch, brass hinges 70 on the bottom of the slant piece; utilizing this support hinge enables a standing person to write on the slant-front when it is extended forward and lying flat like a secretary's desk. The interior of the top of the unit has open storage space as well as 6 vertical slats/dividers measuring ¼″ thick, situated (with 3 on each side) 2¼, 4½ and 6¾ inches from the outside edges. These slats/dividers are each 5½ inches in depth, creating ample room for papers, mail, envelopes, CD's, phonebooks, file folders, etc. The top of the unit is 14¼ inches deep and 29 inches wide.

Among other differences from the unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the unit shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 has the following features. The hinged secretary front tilts down to extend the writing surface rather than up. And the front door panels have chamfered edges rather than flush ones.

In the example of FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, there are two cabinet doors 80, 82 on the front with two interior hinges on each of the left and right sides. Each cabinet front has a fixed panel 84 and flapper door 86. The interior of each cabinet has enough space for large size bins. The user inserts clean recycled items into either flapper door enabling easy and convenient access to the bins while looking at a beautiful piece of furniture.

The example of FIGS. 5, 6, and 7 has the following dimensions.

Height—42 inches (29 inches to desktop when slant-front is open)

Width—36 inches; 38½ inches at top of unit Depth—22½ inches, extending to 36 inches with slant-front open; 17½ inches at top of unit.

Each cabinet door measures 25½ inches high and 18 inches wide. Utilizing a frameless cabinet design, each door is attached to the unit from the outer side using two European-style hinges and remains flush with the unit when closed. One 4-inch brass handle 88, 90 is also affixed on each cabinet door for ease of opening. The outer frame of the door is made of 1″ deep wood. The two vertical pieces 91, 93 on the far left and right sides of each door are 2 inches wide. There are also three horizontal pieces 81, 83, 85 that span the distance between the vertical pieces at the top, center and bottom; these three pieces are each 1½ inches wide. The bottom panel 87, 89 on each cabinet door is a fixed, recessed panel measuring 13¾″ in width and 9⅞″ in height. The top panel 91 appears to be a recessed panel identical to the one below, but is actually a flapper door with the same measurements as the fixed panel. This creates a clean, symmetrical and balanced appearance.

The top of the console (the secretary's desk-type storage area) has a front 93 that slants back toward the rear of the unit at a 60-degree angle. The slant front is 36 inches wide and 13¼ inches high. There are two, 7-inch (when fully-opened) support hinges on the bottom of the slant piece which connect it to the unit. When the slant top is opened, extended forward and is lying flat like a secretary's desk, a person is able to write easily on the desktop which rests at a comfortable, seated writing height of 29 inches off of the floor. The slant-front is operated by a brass finger-pull 95 which has been recessed into the wood and is located on the top center portion of the slant-front face. The interior of the top of the unit has open storage space and 4 vertical dividers/slats measuring ½″ thick, situated (with 2 on each side) 3 and 6 inches from outside edges. These slats/dividers are each 10 inches in depth, creating ample room for papers, mail, envelopes, CDs, phonebooks, file folders, etc. In between the middle two slats is a shelf of 6″ in depth, and 20¾″ in length (not shown). The shelf is removable and, when inserted, is held in place by button wedges. The top of the unit is 17⅜ inches deep and 38½ inches wide.

Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims. 

1. A freestanding piece of residential furniture comprising a household work surface and storage for household items, a compartment having a height, width, and depth to hold an open-top household recycle bin oriented to receive household trash through the top of the bin, and a movable panel to provide access to the compartment to enable a user to place and remove the bins into and from the compartment and to load trash into the bin.
 2. The piece of furniture of claim 1 including a secretary style desk having a hinged access door, the household work surface and the storage for household items located behind the hinged access door.
 3. The piece of furniture of claim 1 including a writing surface.
 4. The piece of furniture of claim 1 including cubby holes to store home office items.
 5. The piece of furniture of claim 1 in which the compartment holds more than one such household recycle bin.
 6. The piece of furniture of claim 1 in which the compartment has a height, width, and depth to hold multiple open-top household recycle bins.
 7. The piece of furniture of claim 1 in which the compartment is completely enclosed.
 8. The piece of furniture of claim 1 in which the compartment is hidden from view by the panel.
 9. The piece of furniture of claim 1 in which the compartment is hidden from view by the panel and the panel includes a fixed panel in front of the bin and a flapper above the fixed panel.
 10. The piece of furniture of claim 1 in which the compartment is hidden from view by a door that includes two fixed panels in front of one or more of the bins and two flappers respectively above the fixed panels.
 11. The piece of furniture of claim 1 in which the compartment includes shelves.
 12. The piece of furniture of claim 1 in which the panel comprises a door.
 13. A freestanding piece of residential wood furniture comprising a household work surface and storage for household items located within a secretary desk and hidden behind a hinged door, below the desk, a compartment having a height, width, and depth to hold an open-top household recycle bin oriented to receive household trash through the top of the bin, and a movable door located in front of the compartment and having a fixed panel in front of the bin and a flapper above the fixed panel to enable a user to place and remove the bins into and from the compartment and to load trash into the bin through the flapper. 